At the 56th session of the Commission on Human Rights,...

At the 56th session of the Commission on Human Rights, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja said that the use of the death penalty was a serious human rights problem, which jeopardized, interalia, the right to life and the right to freedom from inhuman and degrading punishment. Since the penalty could never be applied in a manner compatible with human dignity, it should be opposed in all its forms and ultimately abolished. The death penalty was disproportionately imposed on disadvantaged minorities and poorer persons, and societies, which were determined to reduce social inequalities appeared more ready to reject that degrading custom than those that were indifferent towards social exclusion and poverty.